Washington (April 4, 2018) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today responded to Facebook’s announcement that personal information about 87 million users may have been improperly shared with the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

“We now we have 37 million more reasons why we need congressional action on data privacy online. The more we learn, the clearer it is that this was an avalanche of privacy violations that strike at the core of one of our most precious American values – the right to privacy. I am pleased that Facebook has begun its investigation into this matter and has shared findings with the public, but a number of important questions remain unanswered. Mark Zuckerberg must come to the Senate and tell the American people how Facebook is using, sharing, selling, and protecting their sensitive information. Now is the time for a national conversation about Americans’ privacy online.”

In March, Senator Markey and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking a series of questions regarding Facebook’s involvement in the collection of its users’ personal data and requesting that he testify on the matter before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.